I have been trying to leverage the tool enable and this IoT relay My previous CNC had this and it was a great feature to have the router turn on automatically at the start of the job and off at the end of the job. I have the breakout board but so far I haven’t been able to get it to work. From what I can tell it only needs 3 volts for it to trip the relay. My old Lead1010 used this via the tool head on (M3 S#) then M5 to turn it off.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Loving my machine!!
I hope you/we get a good answer to this because sw control of the router spoils you quickly!
@Markevans36301 I did some more reading and I was able to get it to work!!! Issue was I had to move the controller off the relay to it’s own plug. This was mentioned on the BuildBotics forum. After that it, manually entering “M3 S1” through the MDI worked perfectly, both my router and shop vac turned on, the M5 turned them off. Now just have to see where the best place to put the GCode.
I have the same relay, but no machine yet. Can you share which pins you used on the breakout? Pictures possibly? Thanks! I can’t wait for November 21.
I used Pin 15 positive & 25 (ground). Under Tool Configuration you need to pick PWM Spindle and have tool-enable-mode set to lo-hi. Under I/O configuration, you need to disable load-1 and load-2. This will make pin 15 active with 3.3v when it’s sent a “M3 S1” in the GCODE, sending the 3.3v to the relay, anything you have plugged into “Normally Off” will turn on. Then you need to send “M5” in the GCODE when the job is complete. I made a backup of the Onefinity post processor and made those small tweaks so every job has them automatically inserted. You can test this by using the MDI interface in the UI and sending it “M3 S1” and what you have plugged in should turn on, then enter M5 and it will turn off. If you have issues with the controller rebooting, you might have to plug it into a different outlet due to noise. This was my issue.
Also, you won’t be disappointed by the CNC, the precision and build quality is much better than my previous CNC, and no V-wheels!!!
Great job Barry! We think it’s an awesome feature!
Well, I see I need to add a break out to my order and get the relay box.
One advantage of not being first.
LOL…Mark, I totally did the same after reading his post. Hopefully, Barry gets a chance to put together a tutorial between now and December. I have no idea what any of this stuff is or how it works but I like the idea of not having to manually turn on and off my router/vac every time.
Barry,
Thank you for posting this thread for the “auto start” for the router. Since I do not know GCODE, can you tell us where in the post processor you inserted the tweaks?
Glad that you are enthused with the OF. Three more weeks for me.
Dave
Actually there was only one change needed shown in the screenshot below to the Onefinity (MM).pp post processor file, same addition can be made to the probe change or “Inch” versions. I would make a backup copy of the post processor file so you have something easy to fall back to if you have issues. This is specific to the Vectric software, I’m sure there is a similar spot for other software as well. After making this change, any toolpath you export using this post processor will bake into the GCode the start and stop process automatically.
Looking at the post processor it looks like the the line above was meant for this? But the code shows M03[S] instead of M3[s]? @OnefinityCNC might be able to shed some light on that.
If I recall, gcode is supposed to be case-insensitive, but not all controllers implement it correctly.
Is M3 valid? My references say M03, not M3 - I don’t know if clipping the leading zero is supported.
-Tom
I seen references to both M03 and M3, but according to the Buildbotic they reference this page here for the supported codes for their implementation. M3 is the tool enable code and the [S] will add the speed identified in the tool database for VCarve/Aspire.
Fan of your YouTube work btw, watching for quite a while. Keep up the good work.
@CruversWorkshop - thanks! I really appreciate the positive feedback (too few and far between on the Internet these days).
-Tom
Barry,
Thanks for this post. I know that most cnc users would understand your thorough explanation, but for someone like me who is new to this will usually need a visual tutorial to follow what you have done. My cnc will not come until December but will consider ordering the breakout board so I can also have the router and vac start in auto.
Looking forward for the tutorial. Cheers.
Hello Nelson,
I plan on doing just that. Standing up a website for my woodworking and plan on doing a detailed blog post on this. I’ll update this post with that link when I have it completed.
Regards,
Barry
@CruversWorkshop - let me know if you need help with the website - I’ve been down that road many times 
-Tom
Much appreciated, I’m a software developer as well, but a backend developer. I get that blank page stare when trying to do anything front end :). I have a server and using WordPress with either Divi or Elementor. I have full licenses for both, but still get need to get a starting point.
Roger - I use WordPress with Woocommerce. Good combo, but a little slow (at least with my ISP).
